Food festival for charity

: In a kind gesture, students of Cotton Hill Government Higher Secondary School for Girls came together on Tuesday to organise a food festival for the benefit of the deprived.

More than 2,000 students joined hands to prepare and sell a variety of mouth-watering dishes.

The food items ranged from native delicacies such as

Vazhakoombu cutlets and

ariyunda to dishes such as chicken noodles and paneer pulav.

The festival, which is an annual event, is an occasion to raise money for ‘

Santhwananidhi ’ , a charitable fund instituted by the school to finance the medical treatment of students, if the need arises. The students are encouraged to donate to the fund a part of the profits they make at the festival. A registration fee of Rs. 10 is collected from each student, the entire proceeds of which goes to the fund.

This was devised as an opportunity to inculcate compassion in students, said Sharmila Devi, Staff Secretary.

Students from the upper primary, high school and higher secondary sections participated in the fete. The fifth and sixth graders brought home-prepared food, while the other children prepared food on the spot, using basic equipment like firewood stoves, and fresh and simple ingredients.

‘Patriotic Puttu’

Another highlight of the event was the inauguration by Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar, who made Puttu in the tricolour pattern of the national flag, using carrots, corn and certain leaves with medicinal qualities, apart from rice powder.